I may be an expatriate St. Louisan, but I'm a Cardinal Fan Forever. Mostly, I write haiku recaps of every game. Occasionally, I write longer stuff with pictures.

Series win in Chicago!

It’s nice and unexpected to see a series win against the Cubbies, however I’m still smarting over the game we let get away from us yesterday. I really disagree with Tony’s decision to pinch hit Encarnacion for Duncan with the bases loaded yesterday. I just think the chances of Encarnacion doing better than red hot Dunc were juan in million. Bernie has a very good analysis of the situation in today’s Post, and he sums it up better than I could, going over way more stats than Tony could have possibly crunched in the minute he had to make that decision. I know that Juan got a big home run today, but I just have not been impressed with him this season, and I don’t consider him Mr. Clutch. If Tony had let Chris hit, I think it would have been a big confidence boost for the already-confident rookie.

Preston Wilson seems to be filling the outfield gap well in his first two games. I think he will add an element of stability to the outfield as we head down the stretch. Belliard is also growing on me, even with his Gene Simmons tongue. These may not be Cardinals we recognize, but they might help us hang on to our division lead. I don’t disagree with the decison to send Reyes down – he was struggling lately and I think needs more time to mature, and it’s best not to have to try and do that during a pennant race. I don’t really expect to be wowed by Mulder’s return, and I’d like to see Edmonds get more rest. He makes me nervous when I see him out there now, since he admits he’s still logy. But he did pull off an awesome slide in yesterday’s game.

I’m psyched for the Mets. If we can make it in Queens, we can make it anywhere!

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